


The Great Seas

by Wallwalker



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Afterlife, Alien Mythology/Religion, Community: fic_promptly, Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-04
Updated: 2011-12-04
Packaged: 2017-10-26 20:51:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/287717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallwalker/pseuds/Wallwalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thane knows that one day, he will travel through those seas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Great Seas

Thane had once made a journey - what some of the still-faithful called a pilgrimage, although he personally thought the term dignified it too much - to a museum that the hanar kept on a small moon in their own system. Its vistas were much more similar to the deserts of Rakhana; Thane recalled looking out onto the sands when he had been young and wishing that his lungs could breathe its thin atmosphere, that he could run and play in the desert. He wished that they could have lived there, at times, although he understood the hanar's apologetic argument that maintaining a full, sealed, self-sustaining colony there would be prohibitively expensive.

The museum housed the few artifacts that the hanar had been able to take from Rakhana before the drell who had chosen to stay behind had forced them to leave. There were ancient robes set with precious stones, once worn by priests to the various gods as they said their prayers. There were all manner of old tools, although not every one of them had been assigned a purpose. And, most famous of all, they held copies of the ancient texts of the drell religions - books written by wise and noble priests, inspired by the gods themselves.

The ancient theology texts had been brittle and weak, even so many years ago; each drell pilgrim was only allowed to look at them once in their lives, for fear that too much contact would damage them beyond restoration. Fortunately, for them once was always enough. Thane had spent as much time as they would allow him, reading carefully over each book, knowing that he had found the truth. Let the unbelieving say that they were ancient follies of an ignorant, childish race; they would come to understand, if the gods willed it.

The texts of Amonkira had sustained him for most of his life, as he had become a weapon for the hanar; the texts of Arashu had helped him regain his balance when he had become a husband and a father. But now, as he felt the slow creeping heaviness grow in his chest, it was the scriptures of Kalahira that he turned to for comfort. He knew that it would not be too much longer before he took the journey to the Great Seas, but at least he knew what was to come.

The Seas were beautiful, the texts said, filled with wonders beyond the comprehension of any who lived - creatures that glowed with brilliant and strange lights, to light the path and guide their way. But not every creature who lived there was so benign. They were said to be filled with harriers, dark fearsome creatures who defied all mortal description - one for each regret, for each moment of doubt and pain. The harriers would stop at nothing to prevent the souls of the dead from reaching the other side, the texts warned, and many who were not truly faithful would be ripped apart before reaching their final rest and meeting the gods themselves.

But there was yet hope, the old priest had stressed. For each good act, for each moment of love or charity or concern, a protector would be created, a beautiful creature with fearsome strength. They would be the banes of the demons, and they would protect the one who had created them on his journey. The rest was up to him.

Thane already knew that he would have many harriers on his voyage. He hoped that what he did now - the fight with the Collectors, the saving of so many lives - would be enough to surround him with protection. He hoped that he would have enough to see him through to the other side; it would be his only hope.

But he had killed many others on this mission. Most of all, he hoped that he had not made a mistake. He hoped that their souls would not haunt him there instead.


End file.
